Electrical weft pirn feeler for looms



y 0, 1955 N. BRUNNER 2,707,976

ELECTRICAL WEFT PIRN FEELER FOR LOOMS Filed July 9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 31:2: o q, if} 3 /0 '1 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII United States Patent ELECTRICAL WEFT PIRN FEELER FOR LOOMS Niklaus Brunner, Arbon, Switzerland, assignor to Societe Anonyme Adolphe Saurer, Arbon, Switzerland, a jointstock company of Switzerland Application July 9, 1952, Serial No. 297,943 Claims priority, application Switzerland August 13, 1951 1 Claim. (Cl. 139-273) This invention relates to looms and more especially to an electrical weft pirn feeler.

It is an object of this invention to provide a feeler member for the weft threads which, when feeling a pirn, will at the same time act as a buffer taking up the impact of the pirn and thereby avoiding most of the wear which might injure weft materials of particular sensitivity and which are little twisted.

In the electrical feeler device according to the present invention the contact feeler, when in action on a pirn, will give way by receding behind the planes extending tangentially to the path of the pirns. As regards the auxiliary member made of soft material, which acts as a buffer, it may be arranged symmetrically at both ends of the electrical contact members in the axial direction of the pirns.

Alternatively however, I may also arrange the contact feeler member or members in an indentation or cavity of the buffer member and in that case this buffer member may serve as a carrier for the contact feeler.

I prefer to use a contact feeler in two parts, each part being acted upon by a spring and being limited in its movements by checks.

In the drawings afiixed to this specification and forming part thereof, two embodiments of a feeler device according to this invention are illustrated diagrammatically by way of example.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of the first embodiment in which the feeler device is arranged underneath the pirn range, being accessible from below.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the second embodiment in which the feeler device is arranged above the pirn range, being accessible from above.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the feeler proper, in

which the arrangement of parts differs somewhat from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the device shown in Fig. 3 along the line IV-IV.

Referring to the drawings and first to Fig. 1, 1 is the slay and 2 is one of the journals on which the slay is mounted for rocking motion relative to the frame of the loom. The slay 1 is imparted a rocking movement by the link 3 actuated by a crank drive 4, 5 and 6 and gears 7 and 8, the latter gear being keyed on the main shaft 9. A support 10 mounted on the slay 1 carries a shuttle box 11 with a shuttle 12 containing the pirn 13 which shall be controlled by the feeler, the pirn being shown as combining a spindle 14, the metal sleeve 15 and the weft material 16 wound thereon. The shuttle box 11 has a bracket 17 fixed to it on which is mounted a bolt or journal 18 embraced by an eye of the lever 19. At the free end 20 of this lever is mounted the carrier 21 of the contact feelers 22, from which electrical conductors 23, 24 lead to a current source (not shown). 25 is a cam disc mounted on the loom frame for rotation being driven in a well known manner by the main shaft 9, two wheels 70 and 71 of equal diameter, keyed to the main shaft and the shaft 25, respectively, and connected by a chain 72, being provided for this purpose. A bell crank lever 26 articulated to the loom frame is connected with the lever 19 by means of a rod 27, the free end of which extends through a bore in the pin 28 rotatably supported in the lever 19, the free end of the rod being traversed by a splint 31. The coil spring 30 encircling the rod 27 as well as the bolt 31 holds the lever 19 and the carrier 21 with the contact feelers 22 in a predetermined position.

In the arrangement of parts here shown and described the turning of the lever 19 in clockwise direction, i. e. in the direction of feeling, is not done in a positive manner since in connection with the clockwise turning of lever 19 the spring 30 is compressed and the lower end of rod 27 glides through the bore of pin 28.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 the slay 1 is imparted its rocking movement from the main shaft 9 by means of members similar to those described with reference to Fig. 1. On the top part of the slay is mounted the shuttle box 11 with the shuttle 12 and the pirn 13 carrying the spindle 14, sleeve 15 and weft material 16. On the top part 40 is further mounted the bracket 41 formed with eyes 42 which guide the rod 43. This rod by means of its horizontally extending arm 44 supports the carrier 21 for the contact feelers 22, from which conductors 23, 24, lead to a current source (not shown). At the end of the rod 43 opposite the arm 44 a roller 45 is provided which runs on a cam face of an arm 46 fixed to an operating lever 49 turning about a journal 48 fixed to the loom frame. A roller 47 carried by the lever 49 contacts the cam 50 mounted on the main shaft 9 and the rotatory move ment of this cam 50 causes the lever 49 to rock about its journal 48 and thereby lift and lower the rod 43. A coil spring 51 encircling the rod between the eyes 24 serves for avoiding a positive control of contact feelers 22 on the pirn 13 passing across the contact feelers 22.

In the feeler device proper as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the carrier body 21 has the form of a prism provided with indentations 55, 57 forming seats for buffer members 58 and 59 consisting of soft material and also with an indentation 56 for the contact feelers 22 which are mounted on pins 60, 61 for rocking movement to which the electrical conductors 23 and 24 are connected. Two weak coil springs tend to move the contact members 22 towards each other, however, actual contact between the two members is prevented by their extensions 64 and 65 which form movement limiting checks.

Instead of a carrying member 21 of rigid material, as shown in Fig. 4, I may also provide such a member consisting of soft material, however also formed with the indentation 56 housing the contact feelers 22. This modification of a feeler carrier is shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

This feeler device operates as follows:

The wheel 76 keyed to the main shaft 9 drives by means of chain 72 the wheel 71 which in turn drives cam 25, the ratio of the wheels and 71 being 1:1. The cam 25 rocks the bell crank lever 26 and lever 19 is rocked about journal 18 by means of rod 27. At the same time slay 1 makes its reciprocatory movement by means of link 3, crank drive 4, 5 and 6 and gears 7 and 8, the latter gear being keyed on the main shaft 9. The ratio of the gears 7 and 8 is 2:1. Each turn of the main shaft 9 and cam 25 therefore corresponds to twice the rocking to and fro of the slay 1 and two picks, i. e. each time the shuttle 12 is, for example, on its right end position (which corresponds to a pick for the shuttle going out and a pick for the shuttle coming in), the feeler 22 will feel the pirn 13 from below.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 the ratio of the gears 7 and 8 is 1:2, i. e. each turn of the wheel 8 corresponds to two turns of wheel 7. The slay 1 derives its rocking motion from the link 3, crank drive 4, 5 and 6 by means of gear 7. Owing to the ratio of the gears '7 and 8 being 1:2, one turn of gear 8 will rock the slay twice to and fro corresponding to two picks. Cam 50 being keyed to shaft 9 will be in a position to allow lever 49/45 after each second pick to turn in anticlockwise direction and rod 43 to make a downward movement, enabling the feelers 22 to feel the pirn 13 from above.

Owing to the weakness of the coil springs 62 and 63 (Fig. 4) the two feeler parts 22 are pressed towards each other only weakly, the power acting on them being so small that when feeling the weft material 16, the feeler members 22 will give way towards the left and the right, respectively and will move back behind the vertical planes extending on both sides of the pirn range. The impact on the contact feelers will then be caught by the member 21 and the bodies 58, 59 all of them made of a soft material and any material injury to the weft material 16 is avoided.

On the weft material 16 on a pirn being exhausted a circuit is closed over the two contact members 22 and the metal sleeve 15 of the pirn, thereby indicating the necessity of replacing the empty pirn by a filled one.

I Wish it to be understood that 1 do not desire to be limited to the exact details shown and described for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

Electrical weft pirn feeler for looms comprising in combination, a hollow feeler body, a pair of cooperative conducting contact members extending vertically into and being rockably fastened with said feeler body, their tops flaring outwardly and a pair of buffer members extending alongside the space delimited between said contact members and in planes normal to the pirn axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 692,591 Baker et al. Feb. 4, 1902 765,453 Baker July 19, 1904 867,127 Hansen et al. Sept. 24, 1907 874,550 Walker et al Dec. 24, 1907 960,654 Lovejoy June 7, 1910 1,761,817 Crornpton et al. June 3, 1930 1,809,232 Bowie June 9, 1931 2,226,218 Brown Dec. 24, 1940 2,430,829 Sepavich Nov. 11, 1947 

